Ilda got me an awesome Xmas gift this year – a vintage Sperry AN5736-1 flight indicator gyro (the “artificial horizon”). This model dates back to the 50’s, and is the descedant of the Sperry AN4736 which was widely used during WWII in American planes. This is a very cool display piece, but being a cylinder, it needs a nice stand. Time to hit the CNC machine!
I designed a simple stand to cut from luau plywood, to keep with the vintage feel. After a couple hours with the calipers, Inkscape and CamBam, I was ready to cut the parts. They came out quite clean:
This was my first project using Tab and Slot assembly. And it works incredibly well – the CNC machine cut exactly 5mm slots, so the tabs slotted in very tightly (it held the weight of the Sperry without any glue). Here it is assembled:
After a little glue, time to set the Sperry on it and put it on my bookshelf. Total time was three hours – a fun project that looks great.
If you’d like to cut your own stand, you can get my G-code files here.
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